Many chemical materials have been proposed as valuable as antimicrobials and as preservatives. However, the materials heretofore proposed usually have been restricted in their scope of utility by virtue of one or more shortcomings such as low toxicity to bacterial organisms, toxicity to a relatively few types of organisms, toxicity to gram-positive types but not to gram-negative types of bacterial organisms, unfavorable toxicity to aquatic or terrestrial plants, unfavorable toxicity to mammals and lack of toxicity in the presence of detergents or soaps. The present compounds and methods wherein they are employed as microbicides are believed to have a particular combination of properties; namely, low toxicity to fish, mammals and terrestrial plants and plant parts, and high toxicity to microbes including both gram-negative and gram-positive types in many environments including soaps and detergents such as the fatty acid, anionic, and non-ionic soaps and detergents. A further advantage relates to the instability of the compounds under substantially alkaline aqueous conditions whereby the compounds have a tendency to break down and are thus degradable.